Bank cards, including credit and debit cards, are used by cardholders to make purchases, cash withdrawals, and other financial transactions at bank card machines, such as automated teller machines (ATMs), point-of-sale (POS) terminals, and the like. For example, a typical bank card has a magnetic strip that holds information about a credit or debit account. The cardholder can then access the credit or debit account by, for example, swiping the bank card by a magnetic strip reader on the bank card machine.
Since much of the transaction is automated and takes place between the cardholder and a machine, if a person steals or otherwise obtains the bank card from the cardholder, the person may be able to use the bank card at a bank card machine to make fraudulent transactions using the credit or debit account associated with the card. To prevent these types of fraudulent transactions, many financial institutions and bank card machine owners require that a cardholder enter a personal identification number (PIN) after they swipe the bank card at a bank card machine. The cardholder is asked to memorize the PIN and keep it secret so that only the cardholder and those authorized by the cardholder can use the bank card at a bank card machine.
The PIN, however, cannot prevent all fraudulent transactions. For example, robberies at ATMs are sometimes a problem, where the criminal forces the cardholder to swipe the bank card, enter the PIN, and withdraw money for the criminal. In another example, the criminal may steal the bank card and force the cardholder to provide his or her PIN. The criminal may then locate an ATM, or other bank card machine, and quickly withdraw money or make several purchases using the stolen bank card and PIN. Therefore, systems and methods are needed to further prevent bank card related crimes and fraudulent transactions.